


friends is too limited a word

by Noa



Category: Kill la Kill
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode 22, Other, Romance, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-14
Updated: 2014-03-14
Packaged: 2018-01-15 17:11:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1312711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noa/pseuds/Noa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not a thousand scissor blades could keep him from her now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	friends is too limited a word

He’s lost track of all the things they’ve called him. Godrobe, Holy Clothes, Kamui, Pure Life Fiber. Weapon, Hope, Ally, Enemy, Savior, Monster, Alien. He’s been her inheritance, her protector, her enabler, her uniform, her strength, her sibling, her friend. Her… something they’ve never really taken the time to define. They never had to. They’ve always been on the same line, same wavelength- they shared the same mind.

He carried her through the rubble, and sat by her bed as she slept. She was awake now- no, not just awake. Awakened.

The sheet wrapped around her shoulders kept most of her appearance from his sight, but he could feel her presence. Everyone could, he had no doubt, for she was radiating something fierce, an aura more intimidating than it had ever been before. His thoughts strayed briefly as he wondered what her blood would taste like right now, how hot it would feel pouring into his fibers, but it was fleeting, muted by worry. Fear, because this wasn’t the Ryuko he knew.

She’s different. Off, distorted. Taken by a justified anger, and this time it’s not Senketsu giving life to her rage, but her own wired heart. He longs to wrap himself around her, a naïve hope that he might soothe the madness from her mind, but when he reaches out-

When he leaps towards her, sleeves spread, fibers tight-

Weaponless, she cuts him down. Strikes a heart he didn’t know he had, and stomps out the life it provided him with. She rejects him. Rejects all he’s ever been, in the same way she’s rejecting her own identity. She paints him as one of her kind, paints herself as one of his, but instead of camaraderie, the resulting picture shows animosity. She rejects _them_ , rejects what they’ve been, leaving Senketsu with a void he’s never felt before.

She left, and he went from Kamui, to rags.

The quiet ached in his threads as he sat surrounded by people who couldn’t hear him speak. He listened to their voices, tuning them out without processing the words. He didn’t care for what they said. He didn’t care for anything but Ryuko. He was an empty shell without her. An unloaded gun, a lighter with not a drop of fuel left. Around him, there were plans, strategies, cameras and resolves. Inside him, there was nothing but the memory of Ryuko’s tears, and the pain he felt at not being able to dry them.

Satsuki’s blood tastes sharp. It’s alien, yet it carries a shred of familiarity, and he allows himself to drink freely as he cycles through the forms in her commands. Sights set on Ryuko, he calls for her, yells at her, tries to fight the crippling self-doubt when her words hurt more than her blade ever could, but she doesn’t listen, why won’t she listen-

Mako’s blood tastes soft. It’s strangely fitting, unlike his shape on her form, and he takes only what he must. With a hint of a feeling he can’t quite define, he knows Ryuko would never lay a finger on Mako. She lifts him from her skin, hurls him at Ryuko’s opened chest, and he’s barely aware of Mako being pulled in with him as he travels to Ryuko’s heart chamber. He’s not sure if it’s Mako or himself who pounds at the door until it opens. They storm in.

Ryuko’s dressed in white. It’d be the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen, if that dress wasn’t occupying a place meant for him. That previously undefined feeling shows itself as jealousy, and he tries to talk to her again, and again, but she doesn’t listen, why won’t she _listen_ -

A sea of blackness forces him out of Ryuko’s heart, but he’s too worried to acknowledge the sting of another rejection. Nui’s voice sounds like defeat, until it’s snipped, cut short. All eyes turn to Ryuko. For a second, there is quiet.

Then, Ryuko claws at her skin. She cries out his name. Senketsu looks on as she gambles with death, paralyzed by her will, and his threads tremble with hope. It rains red with her blood, dripping into his fabric, and the taste of her after what felt like centuries of withdrawal nearly hurts his seams. She’s drenched, ripped to shreds, but at last, she’s clean. She screams in pain, and he _feels_ it, feels the overwhelming desire to scream with her, but he’s speechless, frozen until Mako grabs him by his sleeves, and flings him at Ryuko’s stripped body. They make eye contact.

Not a thousand scissor blades could keep him from her now.

He slips himself around her, clicks his straps in place to a flood of violet sparks, and he thinks he can hear a sigh of relief from her parted lips, thinks he can sense her blood welcoming him back, but it might just be his imagination. Their synchronization triggers on its own, like shackles snapping free, and it feels so right he could cry.

And he does cry. He pours out pent up worry, longing, anger and frustration, and though she tells him to cut it out, her voice is an embrace. He’s home again, safe again, and so is she. Ryuko says the words Senketsu has repressed for ages -she tries to, at least- and he listens, and the shock he feels at being acknowledged is nothing like he’s ever experienced before. Ryuko doesn’t have to say it. It’s clear to him now. His love for her is mutual, and they’ll never be separated again.

It takes incredible effort for him not to burst into tears once more.

Harime Nui’s strength has become laughable. She derails into madness, screeching and flailing, desperately clinging to her last pieces of leverage, before they are violently torn from her body. When she gets away, and Ryuko tries to give chase, Senketsu stops her. He tells her it’s too risky, but the real risk he’s refusing to take is the one of losing Ryuko all over again.

They were both back where they belonged, with each other, and Senketsu would do anything to protect that. To protect her.

Not because they’re friends, though.

Friends is too limited a word.

_fin_


End file.
